Issues sliding back seat back and rear heat vent.

We recently bought a 2009 Mazda5 and so far we love it!! However we have 2 issues and I am hoping that someone here can help us with. First of all one of the rear 2nd row captain seat will not slid back. I have tried everything and it will not move!!! There is maybe 3 inches between the front edge of the back seat and the back of the pass front seat. This is not even enough space for my 6 YO son's legs!!!Also, the rear heating/AC vent is only blowing cold air (it's winter, we want heat). Has anyone else experience either one of these issues that can help me solve them without calling the dealer? I'm just wondering if we could be doing something wrong.

Comments

well, when you pull up on the slider lever on the rear seat, can you move it forward? If it won't move either way, then the cable is busted. Can't help you with the rear heat. Are you trying to use the climate controls in the front dash or in the rear console?

When I pull up on the lever it goes forward a few inches but will not slide all the way back. I can see that there is at least 6 inches of track for it to slide back on but something appears to be stopping it. As for the vent, I did a bit more research and found out that the rear console vents are for AC only. Thank you very much for your reply.

If you can move it forward, then obviously the cable is OK. Pull it all the way forward and check the tracks. If you still can't see anything ..... well, if it was me, I would unbolt the seat to check the tracks thoroughly from underneath.

I checked the tracks after I saw this and there does not seem to be anything obstructing them. I did notice that the lever is kinda loose compared to the seat that actually works. I have to go to the dealer to get and inspection sticker anyway so when I scheduled that I also asked that they fix the seat. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm just wondering if you have the airflow set to the dash vents in the front with heat coming out of them, won't that also put heat out of the 2nd row vents? I'd think the 2nd row vents are just linked to the front dash vents? Could/did someone try.... On my previous Freestyle, the rear vents blew out the same air temp as the front dash vents. Of course if you have the front setting to blow heat only to the floor, I can see why the 2nd row vents are blowing cold air.

While it sounds like that would make more sense, bobw3, for whatever design reason the rear vent functions as the manual describes: cold air only, regardless of what the front row setting is, floor, dash, defrost, whatever.The second row heat is provided by vents hidden underneath the two front seats, and appears to deliver the same heated or vented air that the front vents are. The AC has a separate route to the rear center vent.

daharon, you are correct. The rear vents are AC only. There are vents underneath the front seats for heat as you stated. So far I have had no complaints about the back being cold so I guess the under-the-seat vents do the trick. I'm pretty psyched to have rear AC because my boy minds the heat tremendously in the summer.

It does seem like a complicated design to me. Up front on most cars, heat or AC can come out of any of the vents (floor or dash), and on most cars with rear vents between the front seats they're linked to the dash setting up front. With the Mazda5, I guess if you had heat coming out of the front dash vents in the winter, there must be some flap blocking that air from coming out of the rear vents, unless the AC button is pushed. It seems like it would have been a simpler and better design just to have the vent pipes linked.

I took the car in to be serviced at the dealer and it turns out the tracking is broken somehow. Luckily the car is still under warrenty (through the dealer) so they will order the part and fix it for me. It will still cost me $100 but I suppose that is better than paying $750, which is how much they claim the part costs.